Putin’s answer to population drain: hand out passports in Donbass

Report. A Moscow newspaper confirmed reports this week that Russia is distributing passports to citizens of the Ukrainian breakaway region. The move is a soft annexation and a response to demographic shifts.

written by Yurii Colombo

MOSCOW

April 18, 2019

The news had been circulating for a week, but on Tuesday, the always well-informed pro-industrialist Russian daily Kommersant confirme through high-placed Kremlin sources that the Russian Federation will start giving Russian passports to the citizens of the self-proclaimed republics of the Donbass region. According to the Moscow paper, “Russian authorities plan to allow residents of the Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk to obtain Russian citizenship in a simplified manner. Putin’s decree will be published immediately after the run-off in Ukraine.”

Last April, the Ukrainian newspaper Strana had already reported,........